Cholesterol analysis in minutes

The inventors of the technology

The availability of immediate, accurate tests for high cholesterol at your local GP’s surgery is now a step closer. L3 Technology, a spin-out company of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory, has secured a second round investment of £1.75m, enabling the company to commercialise its patented technology that will provide rapid point of care cholesterol testing with laboratory accuracy.

Coronary heart disease, of which a major contributing factor is high cholesterol, is set to become the biggest killer disease worldwide by 2010. There are several types of cholesterol, some of which are good for you and some of which are bad. Existing over-the-counter tests do not distinguish between good and bad cholesterol so the results don’t give a full picture of the patient’s health. For accurate diagnosis, current tests rely on a doctor taking a blood sample from the patient and sending it to a laboratory for analysis – the results can take days. L3 Technology’s technique provides accurate results in minutes.

The L3 Technology approach means that doctors will be able to provide a high cholesterol diagnosis with unprecedented laboratory-standard accuracy, with just a pin prick of blood from the patient – all within a minute. The system works by placing the blood into a cartridge, which is then inserted into a ‘miniature lab’, the size of a laptop, for immediate blood lipid and cholesterol analysis. It is expected that the immediacy and accuracy of the test could save the NHS millions of pounds, improving patients’ health through enabling an immediate and precise prescription of drugs.

L3 Technology prototype

Dr Anthony Nicholls, Chief Executive at L3 Technology said: “Until now there has not been enough evidence to support the possibility that point of care cholesterol monitors can effectively replace accurate laboratory monitoring. Thanks to this investment, L3 Technologies has shown that its new measurement technology matches traditional laboratory tests. It can now go ahead and commercialise this exciting new technology, which will provide an accurate, low cost test for cholesterol, with immediate results, directly from a doctor’s office. Programmes for the widespread screening and monitoring of cholesterol levels are now a commercially viable proposition.”

Dr Liz Towns-Andrews, STFC’s Director of Knowledge Exchange said: “This is a superb example of how the exploitation of cutting edge science can be translated to meet the real needs of our society, directly benefiting both UK economy and the health and well-being of people on an international scale.”

The £1.75m investment was led by Catapult Venture Managers and included contributions from shareholders of Anglo Scientific, first round investors North West Equity Fund as well as a number of high net worth individuals. L3 Technology was jointly founded by CLIK, the wholly-owned technology exploitation company of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and Anglo Scientific.

Notes for editors

Images and captions

• Image - Professor Gareth Jones and Dr Dave Clarke, the inventors of the technology
  
  
• Image - L3 Technology prototype

Contact

• Wendy Taylor MCIPR
  Press Officer
  STFC Daresbury Laboratory
  Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus
  Daresbury, Warrington
  Cheshire, WA4 4AD
  Tel: + 44 (0)1925 603232

About CLIK

Central Laboratory Innovation and Knowledge Transfer Limited (‘CLIK’) is the wholly-owned technology exploitation company of the Science & Technology Facilities Council. CLIK has the exclusive rights to the commercial exploitation of STFC's intellectual property at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire, the Daresbury Laboratory (DL) in Cheshire and the Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) in Edinburgh. Working closely with the technical inventors, the CLIK team progresses individual projects through various business models to the point of implementation as commercial licenses or spin-out companies.

About STFC